The Sims 4 Walkthrough: Cheat Codes Guide

Yep, you can cheat in The Sims 4. This has been true of every The Sims title to date, and the programmers at Maxis apparently didn’t want to disappoint by leaving cheating out of their newest game. Just be warned: If you decide to cheat, you can make The Sims 4 way, way too easy. You may also make it really weird. I don’t recommend saving your game with some of these cheats still in effect.

Enabling Cheating

In order to enter cheats in The Sims 4 you first need to activate the command console. You can do this by pressing the Ctrl, Shift, and C buttons all at the same time. This will open a thin, white strip in the top-right corner of the screen. You can use this text box to enter codes. Hit Enter once you’ve input a code and it will take effect, assuming you entered it properly.

Many of the codes listed below must be toggled ‘on’ or ‘off’. For example, if you want to turn freerealestate on, you have to type ‘freerealestate on’, and to turn it off you need to type ‘freerealestate off’.

Monetary Matters

rosebud - Provides the current household with $1,000. Pretty simple.

kaching - Also provides the current household with $1,000. Meh.

motherlode - Provides the current household with $50,000. Probably the most famous, or at least the most popular, of The Sims cheat codes.

freerealestate - Allows you to ‘purchase’ real estate for free on the Manage Worlds screen.

The cheat interface in The Sims 4. Most cheats must be triggered via this window.

Standard Stuff

help - Displays a list of available cheats.

fps - Displays the current frames per second. Either ‘on’ or ‘off’.

resetsim - Sends your sim back to the spot where they began the game, outside your house / lot. As far as I can tell this does not reset your sim in any other way - their skills, relationships, inventory, etc. are all still exactly the same.

death.toggle - Prevents in-game death. This includes death from accidents, such as sims being electrocuted or burnt by fires, as well as death through normal aging.

fullscreen - Toggles between full screen and windowed screen. For lazy people who can’t be bothered going into the menu. Either ‘on’ or ‘off’.

headlineeffects - Disables the thought bubbles that appear above the heads of sims as they wander around. Either ‘on’ or ‘off’.

quit - Does as advertised.

The Weird Stuff

Beyond these standard cheats there’s also an assortment of rather weird and wonky cheats, probably created more for testing than for players. To enable these cheats you must first enter ‘testingcheats true’. To turn this mode off, type ‘testingcheats false’.

The following cheats can be used by holding down shift and clicking on a sim:

Reset Object (Debug) - Resets the sim to normal. This halts their current action.

Modify in CAS - Allows you to make changes to the sim in Create a Sim without properly exiting Live Mode.

Cheat Need - Disable Need Decay - The sim’s needs (the thought bubbles over their heads on the status bar) won’t disappear after a while, as they usually do.

Cheat Need - Enable Need Decay - Enables the sim’s needs again.

Cheat Need - Make Happy - Makes the sim happy, regardless of their previous mood or current circumstances.

Add to Family - Adds the selected sim to your current household. For obvious reasons they can’t already be in your household for this cheat to appear.

The next set of cheats can be used by holding down shift and clicking on an object. Note that they don’t apply to every object:

Reset Object (Debug) - Resets the object to normal.

Make Dirty - Makes the object dirty. A dirty object has Make Clean instead.

An oversized chess set in The Sims 4, just one example of the power of cheats.

The next set of cheats can by used by holding down shift and clicking on an empty space:

Reset Object (Debug) - In this case, doesn’t really do anything.

Teleport Here - Instantly teleports the active character to the selected spot. You can only teleport to places the character could normally reach by walking.

This set of cheats only apply if you hold down shift and click the mail box at your active household.

Alter Needs - Disable House Needs Decay - The Needs (Hunger, Energy, Hygiene, etc.) of the sims in your active household will not degrade over time.

Alter Needs - Fill Needs (World) - The Needs of the world are set to full.

Alter Needs - Fill Needs (Household) - The Needs of the current household are set to full.

Alter Needs - Disable World Needs Decay - The Needs of the entire world will not degrade over time.

Alter Needs - Enable World Needs Decay - The Needs of the entire world are reset to normal.

Another handy set of cheats pertains entirely to your careers. Enter these codes and your sim will instantly get a promotion in the associated career. These will only work if your sim is enrolled in the associated career when you enter the code.

careers.promote astronaut

careers.promote criminal

careers.promote culinary

careers.promote entertainer

careers.promote painter

careers.promote secretagent

careers.promote techguru

careers.promote writer

Note that you can substitute 'demote' into the codes over 'promote' to get your sim demoted one level. If the sim goes below the minimum level on the career they're immediately fired. If your sim has already reached the branching level in their career they will be fired once they hit the base level of the branching career. (In other words, one sim can't take both career branches. Sorry.)